Moving On
by Jedi1514
Summary: Leaving behind everything she knows, An leaves her home in order to attend a new school, Rikkai, and learns to move on from her old life. Kirihara/An
1. Prologue

Prologue

_**We're over**_

Staring at the words displayed on the small screen, she broke down in tears. Sure, she had seen this coming for weeks. The sneers, inattentiveness, and overall indifference were all clear signs to her. It wasn't just him either, it was the entire team. Perhaps it was high school that changed them, or perhaps without the constant presence of her brother they no longer felt obligated to be nice to her.

Whatever it was, it had resulted in this. She had thought he would at least have the decency to do it face to face, but no. He had broken up with her in a text. Not even a phone call, a text.

It was the last straw. She was leaving Fudomine and its tennis team behind, and never looking back.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

An sighed and fiddled with the hem of her new, green skirt, before reaching up to straighten her already straight blue tie. Catching sight of the time on her alarm clock, she reluctantly swung her satchel onto her shoulder and trudged downstairs. The kitchen was, unsurprisingly, empty. Back in Tokyo, her father would be reading the newspaper while her mother called out reminders to Kippei as he rushed out the door on his way to morning tennis practice.

Kippei. She could still recall the sad, mourning look her older brother had given her at the train station just two days prior. Multiple times on the trip to her new home she had wondered why she decided to move to Kanagawa to live with her workaholic aunt, but then she would glance at her phone and see the screensaver. Why she hadn't changed it yet she still didn't know.

Sighing dejectedly, she grabbed an orange from the fruit basket and started the trek to her new school, eager to escape the oppressive silence that filled the empty house. An's feet seemed to be on autopilot, tracing the path her aunt had showed her to the school, while An herself became lost in her thoughts.

Just one block from her destination, she felt somebody slam into her from behind. Stunned, An laid on the ground until the person hauled her to her feet, and shoved the fallen books into her arms. She only had time to catch a glimpse of the signature Rikkai yellow and black, which in her opinion in made them look like bumblebees, before the boy, she could see that now, dashed around the corner and out of sight.

Still dazed from the hit-and-run, An walked slowly in a way, she reflected later, made her seem like she was drunk, until she reached the gates to her new school. Rikkai's high school looked to be straight out of a TV show, causing An to snap out of her stupor and gaze in wonder and bewilderment at the magnificent buildings. Slowly she passed through the courtyard, glad that she arrived early as to not attract attention.

Five minutes later An found herself wandering about the immense campus, armed only with her schedule and a crudely drawn map so cluttered with numbers and symbols, it was nearly impossible to read properly. When she reached the tennis courts, with no help from the map thank you very much, she stopped to gaze longingly at them.

Making up her mind and nodding resolutely to herself, An entered the courts and sat on a coaches bench near one of the numerous courts. Lost in her thoughts and savoring the sight of the obviously well cared for courts, An jumped when the club room door slammed open with a bang. The disturbing sound was soon followed by waves of chatter emanating from the first years, like herself, that were coming out to set up the nets. She watched them critically, eyeing those that made mistakes and itching to get up from her seat and correct them, until she felt her side being prodded with what was most certainly a racket.

Turning slowly An found herself facing a group of second years, from the looks of their jerseys, that were standing a cliché v-formation. Typical bullies.

"Can I help you?" she asked, fighting to stay polite and hold back the scathing remark she so desperately wanted to let out.

"Yeah" the one in front, obviously the ringleader, stated sneeringly, "you can start by getting the hell off my courts."

"Your courts?" Staring dubiously at them, An could hardly believe they were good enough to even serve the ball over the net. In addition, they were the most out-of-shape barrels of lard she had ever had the misfortune to see on a tennis court.

"Yeah my courts. Now get the hell off before I..."

"Your courts? Now when did they become your courts?" An turned to see a tall silver-haired second year lounging behind her, a mischievous grin set on his angular face. Next to him stood another second year, there were a lot of those, with violet hair combed down neatly, his eyes hidden by a pair of opaque, wire-rimmed glasses. Standing ramrod straight, the second year advanced on An's "bullies" slowly, the messy-haired deviant, there was absolutely no better way to describe him, following lazily behind.

"It's not very gentlemanly to threaten girls, especially those younger than yourselves."

"Of course Yagyuu-san, we were just…"

"Get out of here." This was said in a deadly whisper, and the deviants eyes shifted menacingly to each one of the boys slowly, one by one.

"Yes, Niou-san" obediently the fat lumps scurried away as fast as their stumpy little legs could carry them. As they retreated, An could hear the lackeys scolding the ringleader, angry at him for bringing the wrath of _two _regulars down upon them. Even if they quit the club, they'd still suffer at the trickster's hands, his "gentleman" partner pulling the strings from behind the scenes.

Facing them, An found that she recognized the two as regulars from the monstrous team Seigaku had upset two years ago. It would make sense they would rebuild that team in high school, which meant the others were probably lurking somewhere. Anger bubbled up inside her as she recalled the devastating defeat they had delivered to Fudomine, before she remembered that she was no longer a part of that team. Her brother was not at the high school (he had opted to enroll at Seishun) and the remaining regulars had made it very clear in the weeks before her transfer that she was no longer wanted.

Her saviors appeared as if they were going to address her, but a tall, imposing regular in a black cap, the vice-captain Sanada if she remembered correctly, yelled at the two to resume practicing. Niou turned to her with an impish smile and winked before trotting back to the courts, Yagyuu following behind with an apologetic smile on his face.

As the practice progressed, An found that she could easily pinpoint the regulars, and she was right about the former champion team being rebuilt. It was the exact same team that had beaten Fudomine that day two years ago.

On the far courts Niou and Yagyuu were winning in a practice match with the pink-haired tensai Marui Bunta, and his Brazilian partner Jackal Kuwahara. Closest to her Kirihara Akaya, he seemed to be the only first year not assigned to meaningless tasks and drills, was flailing his arms comically and talking enthusiastically to an amused looking Yanagi Renji.

With ten minutes remaining until the start of the school day, An found herself gathering her books and satchel as the last of the remaining first years made their way into the club room. Standing on the once again silent courts, An nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt a light tap on her shoulder.

Whirling around, she found herself face to face with the tennis club's blue-haired captain standing in front of her with a serene smile on his face. He was dressed in the regulation green dress pants, a short-sleeved white dress shirt, and the blue-striped tie, with the standard green blazer swung casually over his arm.

"Yukimura-buchou, I mean senpai, I mean. Err…" An stammered nervously, scared (not that she'd ever admit it) of what the renowned child-of-god might say.

"Yukimura-san is fine" he smiled kindly at her, "I don't mind if you watch our practices, but would appreciate it if you sat in the bleachers next time." He gestured lightly towards the large, silver structures before waving softly to her and walking away, leaving An to star dazedly at his back.

As she walked down the halls, students all around her granted her the same soft smile and polite wave Yukimura had given her. Some even came up and greeted her warmly before leaving to go to their own class. Stunned by the warm welcome, it was a bit unusual; she almost walked past her homeroom completely.

Pausing at the door, she took out her phone and stared at the screen. Scrolling down to settings she slowly changed her wallpaper from the picture of her and Kamio to the default background. She was not over him and what he did to her, not by far. But before, she had been afraid to leave him, the team, and the memories they shared behind, but now she realized, Rikkai had given her the strength to start moving on.


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: Things I should probably clear up: An is in her first year of high school, as is Kirihara. The rest of the Rikkai regulars are in their second year; you should be able to figure everyone else out from there. An has transferred to Rikkai about a month into the school year, so it's about late September when the first chapter starts (I don't really understand how the Japanese school year works, so let's just pretend for this story that Japan's school year is the same as the U.S.'s)**

**Chapter 2**

Stepping cautiously into her new classroom, An quickly pinpointed an open seat at the back, and hurried to reach it before she was stopped by a curious classmate. Sitting at the desk and laying her head down on the cool, hard wood, An could feel the other student's gazes fixed upon her.

Just as she was about to succumb to a deep, blissful sleep, she felt her shoulder being prodded, none to gently either, by someone. Lifting her head angrily, the scathing remark she had ready died on her tongue when she saw Kirihara Akaya peering curiously at her, his eyes brimming with curiosity and a hint of annoyance.

"Can I help you?" she choked out, cursing her uncharacteristically tremulous voice in her mind. So not how she had wanted that to come out.

"As a matter of fact you can." Kirihara stated smugly, a cocky smirk plastered firmly on his face. "You, Tachibana An, happen to be in my seat." At this he looked pointedly at the plastic blue chair she was sitting, before returning his piercing green gaze to her.

"I'm surprised you know my name" An countered, recovering from her momentary shock quite elegantly if you asked her.

"I'm a surprising person." An scoffed at that and began to gather her belongings in preparation to change seats. Ignoring the glares being sent to her by some of the girls in the room, no doubt for being so _rude_ to their _precious Kirihara-kun_, she offered the arrogant tennis player a mocking bow before relocating to the seat next to his. At this some of the more passionate (crazy) girls let out enraged shrieks.

"Banshees." An thought as she watched the crazed girls surround Kirihara as soon as he sat down. Really, where had all the nice, sane people in the hallway gone? Just then the teacher entered, and with a stern look the young women sent the hyenas around Kirihara running for their seats. An snickered softly at their terrified expressions, thinking that she'd rather like this teacher.

"Tachibana An." Or maybe not. Standing quickly, An looked expectantly at the teacher. "Transfer student from Fudomine high school." The teacher peered up at her at this, as if deciding An needed appraisal because she came from Fudomine. "I expect you to behave properly in my classroom. I don't have rules, but inappropriate behavior will be punished at my discretion. Do we understand each other?" An nodded quickly, and the teacher motioned for her to sit down before walking over to stand behind a white lectern with a diet coke firmly in her hand.

"Now," the teacher began, "I know you all live peacefully in your hermetically sealed bubbles, but has anyone peeked out into the real world for a moment to see what important event was on the news yesterday?"

…

The rest of the morning went by in a blur and An found herself standing dumbly at the cafeteria from the doorway, her bento clenched loosely in her hands. At least her aunt had been thoughtful enough for that. Resigning herself to a lonely lunch period, she turned back towards her classroom and straight into a large, solid body.

An watched in horror as her bento popped open and spilled its contents onto the student's clean, albeit wrinkled, white uniform shirt. Panicking, An began to spew out apologies and wipe uselessly at the boy's now stained shirt with a napkin some kind person had handed her.

"Puri" An stilled, her eyes traveling up to meet a pair of bluish-green ones. Niou didn't say anything else as he stepped past her into the now silent cafeteria.

"Wait" An cried for a reason she didn't even know herself, and reached out to grab the back of the shirt, but ended up yanking on the rattail dangling down his back. Instead of Niou being pulled back like she expected, only his hair was, revealing a head of straight, violet locks. Looking out at the cafeteria, she found that everyone was staring at her and Niou, well, Yagyuu.

Despite all of the people staring at her, one face stood out in particular. Niou, who moments before she would have assumed to be Yagyuu, was staring at her with an expression stuck between confusion and anger. However, the scene was disrupted by Sanada rising from his chair, face flushed red with anger.

"Niou, Yagyuu" Sanada began softly, "I thought I told you never to do that in school again." At this point Sanada was yelling, his booming voice echoing in the silent room. Niou and Yagyuu looked at him with trepidation, while the other regulars, sitting at the table with Sanada and Niou, seemed to be stifling laughter.

An took this opportunity to escape, running out of the cafeteria and into her classroom, all thoughts of lunch having disappeared from her mind

…

After school An dutifully went to the front office and returned a sheet with her new teacher's, she'd discovered the lady's name was Lynn Smith (she was originally from the US), signature. On her way out An found herself inexplicably drawn to the tennis courts again.

This time she found a spot at the top of the bleachers, not wanting another confrontation (if you could call it that) with Yukimura, and found herself surrounded by squealing fan girls. Afterwards she caught Yagyuu's eye and braced herself, prepared to be confronted. But Yagyuu only pulled down his glasses and winked at her with a bluish-green eye.


	4. Chapter 3

_Italics=flashback (An's memories) _

**Chapter 3**

Multiple times over the next few months An tried to stop going, to convince herself that she didn't need to be there.

"I have to face the truth" An thought to herself as she sat on her customary perch at the top of the bleachers. "I'm addicted to tennis." Sighing morosely, she resigned herself to spending to hours after school, sometimes longer depending on Yukimura's mood, watching a practice she could take no part in.

"At least at Fudomine…" An stopped short, mentally reprimanding herself for having such thoughts about it. Three months and still not over the past events, she had resorted to repressing painful memories, which was proving to be extremely difficult. Lost in her thoughts, An failed to notice the high pitch screeching that signaled the approach of one of the ever popular regulars. Really, was there a single girl in the school besides An that wasn't obsessed with them? Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration. Only three-fourths were obsessed.

"Yo, Tachibana!" An jumped slightly, startled, and quickly directed her gaze towards Marui, who was standing at the bottom of the bleachers looking at her impatiently and snapping his gum loudly in irritation. It was obvious that he was waiting for her, but she found herself being drowned in one of the memories she had been trying so desperately to repress.

_"Yo, Tachibana!" Tachibana? An looked up, startled, from her notes on the last match, brow crinkling in confusion. Sakurai had always called her An. In fact, all the regulars had called her An, Tachibana was reserved for her brother. Shaking her head An jumped down from her precarious position atop a ball machine._

_"What's up?"_

_"We need to talk"_

_"Who's we?"_

_"The team and you" An felt the life drain out of her at that sentence. _The team and you. _She had always been a part of that team, so what had changed? Scenarios ran through her mind at a rapid pace as she followed Sakurai through a maze of nets and balls to the club house, each more outlandish than the next. Pausing before the entrance, Sakurai turned to her, and a hint of regret flitted across his face before it smoothed back over into that mask of apathy she had grown so accustomed to over the past few weeks._

_"Wait out here" He told her before disappearing into the club house, leaving An to stare at the faded blue door. The entrance to a realm she was once privy to was sealed._

_Within a few moments the door opened and Kamio walked out, his normally expressive face an unreadable mask._

_"Listen Tachibana"_

_"An. I am your girlfriend aren't I?"_

_"yeah" An raised her eyebrow at his utterly unconvincing tone. He had been the one to ask her out, and now he was undoubtedly regretting it._

_"Listen, An. The team and I have been talking, and we don't want you as our team manager anymore. I'm sorry" With that he turned on his heel sharply and disappeared into the clubhouse. An stood there motionless, tears pooling in the corners of her eyes. Blinking to clear them, she found that her vision had gone blurry and the sounds that once surrounded her were gone. It was like someone had pressed the mute button on her life._

"Tachibana, get your ass down here, buchou wants to talk to you." An felt small tendrils of fear stab into her at those words. What if she couldn't sit there anymore? What if they were angry with her?

Swallowing the fear quickly consuming her, she stood on unstable legs and joined an irritated looking Marui at the bottom of the bleachers. He looked at her wordlessly before turning and stalking towards the clubhouse. An following him blindly across the crowded courts, trying desperately to force her heart to stop beating so damn fast.

When they arrived at the clubhouse An stopped at the doorway, prepared to wait for Yukimura, while Marui walked in. a few moments later Marui stepped back out to look at her, puzzled. Without a word he held the door open and gestured for her to go in.

Stepping in, An immediately felt intimidated by the sight of all the regulars staring at her expectantly from the benches that littered the space. Well, not all of them from the benches. Niou had somehow managed to scale the tall lockers against the walls and was stretched out lazily on top, his arm hanging off the side as he peered down at them with a bored expression. Immediately An's apprehension disappeared as she pondered how in the world he had managed such a feat. Perhaps he was a superhero like Spiderman? That would be cool. Or he could have just climbed with the aid of another regular. Maybe Kirihara? No, it was Yagyuu, definitely Yagyuu she thought resolutely, making a mental note to discuss the finer points of locker scaling with the two of them later.

"Well, aren't you going to say something?" Kirihara snapped, his eyes flashing dangerously. An felt her nervousness come back all at once, even as all eyes turned to the loud-mouthed ace, most with scornful looks.

"I don't know what you want me to say." An responded quietly, feeling timid.

"We would like to talk to you about a managerial position." An's head snapped up to look into Yukimura's unflinching eyes. The captain was sitting on a bench, with Sanada and Yanagi leaning against the lockers behind him, looking very much the part of bodyguards.

It took a minute for the softly spoken words to sink in and when they did, An felt as if she were going to faint. Her thoughts were racing, flying by so fast An wasn't sure she was thinking at all. They slowed when her knee was prodded from behind, causing her to lose her footing and fall to the ground in an undignified heap. She snapped her head around to glare at Kirihara, who was sitting on the bench behind her with thee impish grin on his face.

"Well Annie, watcha say?" she turned her head and fixed her glare on Niou, cursing his little nick-name for her. It had sprung up a couple weeks after the "cafeteria incident" as she had dubbed it, once Niou had weaseled her name out of one of her classmates. Contrary to popular belief, Niou was not angry, but had rather taken an interest in her, though she was still not sure if that was a good or bad thing. Yagyuu, she was still not sure about. Honestly, he scared her more than Niou.

Softly clearing his throat, Yukimura immediately brought attention back to himself, his blue eyes flashing in annoyance at the disturbance. An thought for a moment. Did she want this?

"I accept" she did. More than anything. She should be happy, ecstatic; after all it was what she had been wanting all those months on top of the bleachers. But all she could think about was Kippei's face when she told him she was transferring to Rikkai. He had looked so betrayed. She couldn't possibly imagine how he would react to her involvement with the school's tennis team.

"Alright! We should go out to celebrate. Jackal's paying"

"What?" Jackal's face twitched as Marui dance out of his grasp, all the while chattering about a cake shop. An thought she would have found the entire scenario quite amusing had she not been picturing Kippei's wounded face. She finally snapped out of it as she was prodded out of the clubroom and towards the front of the school by Niou, who finally stopped when Yagyuu confiscated Niou's racket and threatened to break it if he didn't stop. Again, Niou really isn't the one people should be afraid of.

They ended up at the cake shop. It was small and plain on the outside, but the inside was painted in bright pastels that made An's eyes hurt. Despite that her mouth began to water at the delicious looking pastries in the display case. She hadn't realized she had stopped until Yagyuu gently grabbed her elbow and led her to the booth they would be attempting to cram into.

"I'm not paying this time"

"But Jackal, we're celebrating An's new position on the team!"

"I'll pay for _her,_ but not for you."

"But Jackal!"

"Enough" the table went silent as Sanada slammed his hands on the table and stood up, a vein bulging in his neck.

"You will all buy your own. Except An. She's the only one being treated."

Ten minutes later An was trying not to laugh at the scene before her. Marui's face was covered in frosting, Yukimura was picking pieces of cake out of Sanada's hair, A frosting coated Yagyuu was holding back an equally covered Niou as he tried to lunge at a terrified Kirihara, and Yanagi was patiently eating his cake off to the side, all the while muttering about data under his breath. In the midst of her laughter, Jackal leaned over to whisper in her ear.

"It's all downhill from here"

"I wouldn't have it any other way."


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

By the time An stumbled into her aunt's house, covered in frosting with a goofy smile plastered on her face, it was late enough that her aunt was home. She looked up from her papers when An walked into the living room and gave her an odd look before downing a cup of coffee resting among the documents and resuming her work. An rolled her eyes at this and continued past her aunt and up to the bathroom, all the while trying not to make a painting on the walls with her body.

Shedding her clothes, she climbed into the shower and furiously scrubbed her hair until the water running down the drain was no longer stained with food coloring. She sighed and leaned back against the smooth tile of the shower wall and slowly let her mind go blank…

And groaned when the Imperial March flooded the room, breaking the silence that had fallen over it. An hummed along as she wrapped a fluffy SpongeBob towel (because SpongeBob is awesome) around herself and headed into her adjoining bedroom to answer the phone.

"Hello, you've reached Captain Awesome, also known as Tachibana An, how may I help you citizen?"

"Hello Captain Awesome, I'm taking a survey. Would you like to participate?" An's mouth went dry and her palms started to sweat. She rubbed them vigorously on the towel and then grasped the phone tighter.

"Shoot"

"How have you been?"

"Good"

"Rescued anybody lately?"

"A few"

"Are you open to an interview with Superheroes Weekly?"

"Only if it's on a Saturday after one o clock"

"Alright, thank you. Now one last question."

"What's that?"

"What do you think about the Rikkai high school division?"

"I became the tennis team manager." The other side went silent. The only sound was An's heavy breathing. she suddenly felt awkward. A conversation as serious as this should not be done while wearing nothing but a SpongeBob towel, as awesome as he is. As the boy on the other line thought, An quickly pulled on her underwear and a pair of pajamas with the Grinch on them. Better.

"Are you happy?" An jumped at the sudden question despite how softly it was spoken. She thought for a moment.

"Yeah, yeah I am."

"Then that's all that matters."… "Captain Awesome? An?"

"Thanks Kippei."

"Now about that interview…"

An wanted to whistle to herself as she walked to school the next morning, tossing an orange in her hand and feeling as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. It was a bit earlier than she used to: as manager as manager she had to be at practice the same time as the regulars to help run practice.

"You're going to be late! Go!" an turned to see a disheveled Kirihara being thrown out of what she assumed was his house by a woman with wild blonde hair and flashing green eyes. His hair was even messier than usual, and his eyelids were drooping as he stumbled onto the sidewalk, a half-eaten pop tart threatening to fall out of his hands.

"Would you like me to carry you?" Kirihara's eyes snapped open and he sputtered indignantly at An's words. She winked at him and took off, satchel banging harshly against her leg. Glancing back she saw that he had shaken off his stupor and had begun to chase after her. She felt her lungs tighten up and her legs screamed. When had she gotten so out of shape? He caught up with her at the school gates and slowed to a jog while An collapsed on the grass, gasping for air. He laughed and hauled her up, beginning to drag her towards the tennis courts.

By the time they reached the courts An was no longer wheezing, and Kirihara took off towards the clubhouse. On his way he passed Sanada, who had a jacket draped over his arm. He calmly walked up to An and thrust out the jacket, his face expressionless.

An apprehensively took the large regular's jacket from him and slowly traced the kanji stitched just under the collar.

"You can have that until you get your own."

"Thank-"He was already gone. She smiled happily and shrugged it on, fingering the faded emblem. It was obviously an old one, probably from last year. Checking to make sure no one was looking, she tentatively sniffed the fabric. Weird, she never would have guessed Sanada smelled so…floral.

"Everybody, I would like to introduce our new manager, Tachibana An." The regulars around her began to clap enthusiastically, prompting a thunderous applause to erupt from the tennis club.

"Now, second and third years do serving drills. Regulars, seven point tie breaks for king of the court. First years pick up balls. Tachibana, you're with me." An hastily followed Yukimura to a bench and sat down beside him.

An felt powerful, as if she knew the secrets of the universe. Really she only knew the secrets of the Rikkai tennis team, which were only equivalent to the secrets Russian government. Only with less corpses.

For instance, she knew that the reason Kirihara and Sanada missed the first fifteen of practice every day without consequence was that they were meditating to help Kirihara control his temper. And that Marui didn't eat cakes for stamina anymore; he just couldn't stand the sugar withdrawal so he stayed in the habit. Jackal only shaved his head before matches, which apparently made the offseason really awkward for him. Yanagi was practically the team's coach, as the real one quit after he challenged Yukimura's authority for the first time.

She was currently watching Niou-and-Yagyuu practice the Laser. That was another thing. At practice it was never just Niou or Yagyuu, it was always Niou-and-Yagyuu because they did everything together at practice. They had to do so in order to pull off the now infamous Switch. According to Yanagi, they rarely ever used it anymore; it was only for "special occasions". The knowledge that they could be performing it at any time messed with most opponents' minds sufficiently enough. Whatever sufficiently enough meant by Rikkai standards.

"Watcha think Annie?" That was Yagyuu. Well, Yagyuu dressed as Niou. They didn't know it yet, but she had figured out how to tell them apart very easily. Niou's eyes changed with his emotions, becoming darker or lighter. Yagyuu's were always the same, and possessed a dangerous glint that Niou's didn't really have.

"Slow?" Niou (Yagyuu's) face broke into an expression of anger.

"Listen-"

"Don't worry about it yeah~gyuu" there it was, the big reveal. An did her best to put an expression of surprise on her face.

"Gotcha Hun" Niou said as he and Yagyuu switched back.

"Totally" Niou-and-Yagyuu smirked. Yagyuu then signaled for another ball. An flipped the switch and watched as the ball sped towards Yagyuu.

The ball left the racket as a blur and An didn't see it completely until it was rolling on the floor, an indention on the floor where it had impacted. An blinked. Not only was it even faster, but stronger as well. Anyone who tried to return it would surely break their wrist.

"Better?"

"Better" An stared at Niou-and-Yagyuu as they made their way out of the court. An followed, dazed.

Anybody would have a hell of a time beating Rikkai as they went for their second consecutive high school national championship. But An had long learned that nothing was impossible.

And so had Rikkai.


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"Pick."

An looked warily at the hat Niou was presenting to her. It was never a good idea, as she had very quickly found out, to stick your hand in something Niou was holding. It might explode.

"Not Kirihara, not Kirihara, not Kirihara." The horror of picking Kirihara as her Secret Santa forced her to chant repeatedly in her head, as if that would somehow remedy the situation. She tentatively reached into the hat and pulled out a carefully folded piece of paper that had little Christmas trees printed around the edges. It was a carefully put together package of death, courtesy of the three demons of Rikkai. Taking care not to destroy the slip, she carefully peeled off the tape and unfolded the paper.

Niou. At least Kirihara would have been happy with video games and sweets, but what the hell could she possibly get Niou? He smiled wolfishly at her before stalking off to find the other regulars.

Resigning herself, An glanced over the paper and groaned in dismay. Niou had barely filled anything in except his name, and the answers he gave were vague and did not help her at all. The knowledge that he liked to play tennis and prank people was not only superfluous, but also completely and utterly unhelpful in her quest to get him an amazing gift, if only because she would like to prove to him that she could.

An sighed, shoving the paper into the pocket of her new jacket, having returned Sanada's a few days previously, and turned her attention back to the sheets on her clipboard. Staring at the requests for practice matches, addressed to Yukimura of course, she felt lost. She had already signed off on one for this weekend with a mediocre team they would probably play in the prefectural tournament, and one with Hyotei the next weekend, leaving one weekend left before Christmas holidays began to interfere. She had two requests left on her clipboard. One had Tezuka's signature written neatly at the bottom, and the other bore _his _name in a messy, familiar scrawl.

Her choice was obvious, but she knew that Rikkai and Seigaku had not met since the Nationals match two years ago, as Seigaku had gotten knocked out in the semifinals of both the Kanto and national tournaments the past year. She wasn't sure if Yukimura wanted to meet them just yet. Maybe if he knew of her _predicament._

No. She had promised herself that no one here would find out about that.

"Hello." And then Yagyuu was there, looking over her shoulder at the clipboard.

"Hey Yagyuu-senpai."

"You look as if you have a difficult decision to make."

"I do."

" Oh? And what would that be?" An looked at him warily. She didn't exactly trust him with that information. He was nice, sure, on the outside, but he hadn't been a true gentleman since he met Niou in their second year of junior high. Niou-and-Yagyuu were the only two she was hesitant to talk to.

"I have to choose between Fudomine and Seigaku for a practice match." To hell with it. Maybe he could help her.

"Hmmmm. Let me see your clipboard." She handed it over, relieved it was in someone else's hands.

"I'll go talk to Yukimura about it." An then he was gone, off to find their blue-haired captain. An sighed and pulled the slip of paper out of her pocket. What did Niou like?

"Hey Niou!"

"What?" He looked up from where he was shoving a slip of paper into poor Sanada's hands, then trotted over to her when he saw her motioning.

"Help me watch the first years."

"Why do you need help?"

"They don't listen to me."

"And you think I can make them?"

"Really?"

"Yeah, okay. I'll protect you from the big, bad first years."

"Gee, thanks." An leaned against the fence as she watched the first years practice their swings.

"So, tell me about yourself." Niou shot her a look, his eyebrows rising to meet his hairline. An absently wondered if he died his eyebrows to match his hair color. There was absolutely no way his hair was naturally that color. Maybe she could get him hair dye. Or bleach.

"Annie, I know you're jealous of my awesome hair, but it really is rude to stare." An snapped back to attention, her face turning an alarming red color. She opened her mouth to say something, but then shut it slowly.

"That's a very nice impression of a fish there Annie. Now all you need is the gills. I don't think-. Hey! No slacking off!" she flinched as she heard Sanada's voice erupt out of his mouth. The first years that had been sitting idly against the fence jumped up and scrambled to find their rackets. Niou shot her an exasperated look before schooling his features back into hard mask and sauntering over to the stuttering first years.

"Here" An jumped as Yagyuu spoke right in her ear. Whirling around she took the the clipboard, huffing at his amused expression. Giving him one last glare she glanced down at the slot for the open weekend.

Fudomine _and_ Seigaku? Well Yukimura sure was confident. Then again, Seigaku was not the team that won the middle school National Finals against Rikkaidai. Their doubles were abysmal, being that the golden pair was no more, and Kikumaru not being able to play to his full potential without Oishi, and despite their success, Kaidoh and Inui were singles players. They had to rely on singles against better teams, and without Echizen, they just didn't have the edge they needed. And An had told Yukimura as much.

"Thanks, Yagyuu-senpai."

"You're welcome. Now I daresay I must find Niou."

"He's over there, terrorizing the first years."

Of course. Why would I look anywhere else?" He said in a flat, exasperated tone and An was sure his eyes were rolling behind the opaque glasses. An snickered to herself. Even though they scared her slightly, watching Niou-and-Yagyuu argue was always a highlight of her day. They knew each other too well for either to ever win.

"Hey, Yagyuu-senpai, can I ask you a question?"

"Any sort of puzzle will do. Something that will challenge him intellectually."

"Yagyuu-senpai?"

"Niou's gift for Secret Santa. Yanagi informed me you might be in need of some assistance."

"Thank you." And then he was gone, over to Niou and pulling him away from a terrified looking first year. An smiled and giggled at them, before turning back to her clipboard. Yukimura had better be right about this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Moving On~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Why us?"

"Hey, at least you got Yagyuu-senpai. I'm the one with the distinct pleasure of being Niou's Secret Santa."

"Whatever." An snickered at Kirihara's forlorn expression. The two were Christmas shopping together, brought on by Kirihara's inability to pick out a present for Yagyuu, and his insistent whining about it. Peeking into her bags an carefully noted whose gifts she had. Everyone except Niou. As manager, An had the honor of retrieving the joint gifts the team got for each regular. She scowled at the gift card they got for Niou. Not only did it help her none whatsoever, it also supported his pranking habit. What else could a gift card to a hardware store have any other use for when it was for Niou?

"Hey, let's go in here!" An found herself being dragged into a toy store and sighed exasperatedly."

"I doubt I'm going to find anything for Niou in here."

"You'd be surprised." Kirihara shrugged and started wandering through the small shop.

An had been playing absentmindedly with a stuffed bunny when she spotted them out of the corner of her eye. She set down the bunny and walked over to them, taking one into her hands to inspect it.

"Good idea but he already has, like, 20 of them." An looked at Kirihara carefully before replacing the toy and picking out a new one.

"What about this?" An had picked out the biggest and most complicated version she could find, though she doubted anyone, even Niou could complete the thing.

"That could work." Kirihara was staring wide-eyed at the toy, amazed at the sheer complexity of it.

"Wonderful. Now let's go. I still have to get those paints for Yukimura." An started towards the register, the toy clutched securely in her hands.

"An? Why did you stop? Here, you dropped this." Kirihara scowled at An's rigid back and attempted to shove the toy back into her clammy, lifeless hands.

"You need to pay for this."

"What? No, I-"

"I'll pay you back later. Just, meet me outside, okay?"

"Okay, fine. Whatever."

"An!" She froze, a look of terror plastered on her face. Kirihara gave her an odd look and she grabbed the toy out of his hands, quickly smoothing her features over, though she couldn't hide the glint of fear still present in her eyes.

"Hey, Daisuke." She ground out, hate filling her voice. She walked forward slowly, and cautiously set the toy on the counter. The boy at the counter smiled predatorily at her, white teeth standing out in his tanned face. An refused to meet his sharp brown eyes as he checked her out.

"We all miss you at Fudomine, especially me." An growled and practically flung the money at him.

"Somehow I doubt that."

"Well that's to be expected, after what you did to poor Kamio." He caressed her hand while handing her the change, and she drew her hand back sharply.

"You of all people know that's not true. That that didn't really happen." She hissed out, eyes narrowing.

"All I know is how much of a dirty little-"

"Hey." An whipped around to see Kirihara standing behind her, his mouth set into a sharp line and his usually mirth filled eyes flashing with vague annoyance.

"You shouldn't talk to girls like that."

"Says who?"

"Well, pretty much society in general. And there's also me."

"Hmmm? Well what are you going to do Mr. Devil? Dye me red?" Daisuke grinned triumphantly as Kirihara's expression darkened, a wild anger slowly creeping into his eyes.

"Thank you for the lovely conversation," An interjected sourly as she grabbed the toy off the counter, "but we really must be going." Shooting him one last sour look she grabbed Kirihara's arm and hauled him out of the store, straining because of the small amount of resistance he gave.

"Why did you let him say those things to you?"

"It's none of your business."

"I can't just stand there and let you get hurt!"

"Why not? Everybody else has!" An slapped a hand over mouth, eyes widening in horror.

"What do you mean? An?" Kirihara's brow puckered and his lips curved into a small frown.

"An,"

"Just drop it." He fell silent, though his face clearly expressed his annoyance and worry.

"Now, you still have to get Yagyuu's gift right?"

"Yeah, but-"

"There's a bookstore over there. It will probably have something." An pointedly refused to meet his gaze, trudging resolutely towards the Barnes & Noble.


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

An scowled and swatted Kirihara's hand away as he collapsed next to her on the grass just beyond the tennis courts, keeping him from touching her clean hair.

"How are you sweaty? You barely even tried." He pushed his dripping bangs away from his face and looked at her with mirth filled green eyes.

"It's a guy thing." He winked at her before emptying his water bottle onto his head and shaking it like a dog. Shrieking, An grabbed her own barely touched water bottle and quickly retreated next to Niou-and-Yagyuu. Briefly glancing towards the courts where Yanagi was toying with his opponent, she whipped her head back towards her senpais when she noticed what they were laying out in front of them.

"Are you playing poker?" Niou-and-Yagyuu looked up at her for a second before continuing to pass out cards.

"Yeah, you want in Annie?"

"No! I mean, what if Yukimura sees?" She glanced nervously at where the captain was seated by the courts, quietly observing the match in front of him.

"He doesn't care against a team like this." Kirihara chimed in, reseating himself next to An while pulling a small baggie of chips out of his tennis bag. An continued to stare in shock as Marui and Jackal joined them, creating a circle around the cards.

"Do all of you play?" They started throwing chips into the middle of their circle.

"Everybody except Sanada." An glanced at where their vice captain was warming up resolutely ignoring them.

"Even Yukimura?"

"Even Yukimura. Yanagi too, but her hardly ever plays, thank god." At her confused look Marui chuckled and leaned over to whisper conspiratorially in her ear, "We think he counts cards."

"I don't think Yanagi would do that." An mused out loud as Niou took a box of chips from his bag, carefully counting them out and handing them to her. This broke her out of her trance, and she stared blankly at them before looking up.

"So how does this work?"

"Everybody starts out with the same number of chips for the year. If you choose not to play, like Sanada does, you turn in your chips at the end of the season without losing or gaining any money. However, if you choose to play, you lose money if you have less chips than when you started with. That money will be given to those who end up with more chips than they started with. If you run out of chips, you're done, you can't buy more."

"So we're playing for real money?" When Niou nodded she threw her cards back to Yagyuu, carefully stowing her chips in her bag and resolving to learn how to play poker. She glanced at Kirihara, who was playing with his chips lazily, a look of bored disinterest on his face.

"So who usually wins?" Kirihara glanced at her before throwing his chips in and leaning over to whisper in her ear.

"Niou-and-Yagyuu. This game was practically made for them. And I'm pretty sure they count cards, but you did not hear that from me. The rest of us are hit and miss. It's just fun." He shrugged and turned back in time to Niou laying down his hand, a wolfish grin on his face. An heard several of the boys around her mutter curses as they threw down their cards as well, letting Niou pull the pile of chips towards him.

"I'm out." Kirihara announced, picking up his chips as Yanagi came to join their circle, although he didn't pull out any chips. "I'm going to get drinks." Immediately a barrage of requests came at him, along with a spray of coins that he barely managed to avoid getting hit by.

"Come with me?" It took An a moment to realize he was looking expectantly at her as he picked up the coins. Blushing, she nodded and accepted his hand when he offered it to help her up, glaring at Niou when he winked at her.

"Alright lovebirds, don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"More like anything Yagyuu wouldn't do." Marui chimed in, pulling a few chuckles out of the group.

"On the contrary, according to my calculations, Yagyuu has done approximately 98.2% of the things Niou has." As one the team turned to look, shocked, at Yagyuu, who An was certain was killing Yanagi with his eyes behind the reflective glasses.

"We're not going to do anything." Kirihara butted back into the conversation, his cheeks now flaming red. He glared at all of them before grabbing An's hand and pulling her along as he stalked towards the vending machines.

"So, you excited for the Hyotei matches?" Kirihara shot her a look, clearly surprised she had asked that.

"You really think I enjoy playing those pompous douche bags?" She scowled at his language before responding.

"Well since you always want to play strong players I thought you would be excited."

"The only one worth beating on that team is Atobe, and he rubs everyone the wrong way. Pretty much everyone on the team would like nothing more than beat his spoiled ass into the ground." An started at this.

"Really? I thought only Sanada held a grudge." Kirihara scoffed, starting to feed the vending machine change.

"Sanada holds a grudge against everyone except Yukimura," at this he paused to give her knowing look, to which she responded with an confused expression. He sighed exasperatedly before continuing, "Atobe has done or said something to piss off everyone on the team, except, well, I guess you. He's just lucky if he doesn't end up in a ditch at the rate he's going with Niou."

"What did he do to Niou?"

"Nothing, yet. Atobe is one of the few people outside the regulars that knows about Niou's financial situation and he loves to lord it over him. It's only a matter of time before Niou's pride overrules his need to keep it a secret."

"He doesn't owe too much does he? Are they in debt to the Yakuza? Wait, is Atobe a Yakuza heir?" She gasped as the last thought flew from her mouth. Kirihara just stared at her, a mixture of amusement and shock showing on his face.

"You haven't been to Niou's house yet?"

"No. Why? Is it bad? Is he being abused? At this Kirihara shook his head and started back towards the team, arms laden with drinks, leaving An to stumble after him.

"No, he isn't abused. More like spoiled rotten. His family is filthy rich."

"Niou?"

"Yeah, his dad owns some big company and does deals with Atobe a lot. From what I understand Niou refused to go to Hyotei and wanted to keep a low profile."

An mulled this over as they made their way back to the group, which was now joined by Yukimura, whose eyes were flitting back and forth from the poker game to Sanada's match. She noted that, despite being distracted, he had a pile of chips almost as large as Niou's in front of him. Following her gaze, Kirihara chuckled and leaned over to whisper in her ear.

"Yukimura-buchou is deceptively good at poker." She nodded quietly in response, watching as they threw their chips in.

~~Moving On~~

"No poker today?"

"No poker today." An nodded slightly as she threw her weight against Kirihara's back. He groaned in pain as his hands finally grazed his toes, before standing up and shaking out his legs.

"I don't know how Niou does it." A glance to their right revealed that Niou was reaching past his toes easily, his head almost touching the ground as Yagyuu pushed lightly on his back.

"Why don't you ask him?" Kirihara shot her his 'are you kidding me?' look before grabbing onto her shoulder so she could stretch his quads.

"As much as I'd like to be as flexible as Niou and Yukimura-buchou, I would rather not bring it up with them. I have a feeling the answer involves a lot more groin pain that I would particularly want." An laughed at this, her whole body shaking with mirth, causing Kirihara to clamp down on her shoulder harder so he didn't lose his balance.

"Most tennis players could learn from them. I mean, at Fudomine Daisuke was the most flexible and even he couldn't-" An slammed her mouth shut, an expression of surprise flitting across her face in response to the words she had just uttered.

"Daisuke? Wasn't he that asshole at the toy store?"

"I don't want to talk about him."

"Why? You just can't pretend he didn't hurt you, because I know he did somehow. I'm not stupid." An shot him a warning look as his voice raised, looking around to make sure nobody had heard.

"What's this about you being hurt Annie? Cuz all you have to do is say the word and he'll wish he'd never been born." She looked at Niou, cursing as he raised his eyebrows at her, clearly waiting for an answer.

"An would obviously not like to talk about it."

"Thank you, Yagyuu-senpai."

"However, I agree with Niou in this case. Those who wrong innocent people, especially girls, cannot go unpunished." An frowned an opened her mouth to retort, but was quickly cut off by Niou.

"Don't even try to say you deserved bullshit like that, Annie. No one deserves what that fucker did to you." An's eyes widened in horror at the implication, begging him with her eyes not to tell anybody.

"What? What did he do?" Kirihara was getting mad, looking angrily between An and Niou.

"Nothing," An said after a long pause, "It was just a rumor."

"Sometimes rumors are what hurt the most." Niou gave her a knowing look before dragging Yagyuu away, leaving them alone, warm-ups forgotten. He turned to her angrily, clearly upset with situation.

"What did he mean?"

"Nothing"

"Don't give me that. What did he-"

"Akaya! Get down here." Kirihara glanced down to where the team was gathered, shrinking back slightly at Sanada's furious expression.

"We're not done discussing this." An scowled before following him to join the team, nodding to Sanada as she passed him.

"Hyotei will be here in a few minutes and that means we must show no weakness. Nothing they can exploit when the tournament starts. That includes personal issues." At this Yukimura's gaze lingered on Kirihara and An, who both looked abashed at his admonishment.

"Now, the matches will be Marui and Jackal against Oshitari and Mukahi. Niou-and-Yagyuu against Shishido and Ohtori. Yanagi against Akutagawa, Sanada against Kabaji, Akaya against Hiyoshi, and myself against Atobe. This will likely be what we face in the tournament as well. That means beat them, do not let them think they can win. Catalog their weaknesses. At the same time, don't show your trump cards. Now, continue warm ups, I want you all focused and ready when they arrive. An, walk with me."

An jogged to catch up with Yukimura, settling into the brisk pace he set and waiting for him to speak.

"I want you to stay with Niou-and-Yagyuu during the matches. Gather data, Niou will help you." Suddenly he whirled around and put his hands on her shoulders, his blue eyes boring into her own, "And don't let Niou do anything stupid." With that he walked away, presumably to warm up, leaving An standing on the edge of the courts with her mouth gaping open.

"You my watch dog?" Niou asked when she sidled up to where Yagyuu was doing push-ups, probably as punishment, with Niou sitting lightly on his back.

"That is not normal, you do not look that strong." She saw Yagyuu's lips quirk into a smile before he sat up, sending Niou tumbling onto the grass.

"A little warning please."

"I'm sorry."

"You're not." Niou gave Yagyuu's shoulder a small shove, which he responded with a small smile. Niou smiled back softly, bumping his hip lightly against Yagyuu's as they started towards an empty court, An scrambling to follow them. When she caught up Niou slung his arm across her shoulder, leaning heavily against her.

"Get off senpai."

"I don't think so Annie. Not until we talk about this."

"About what? Your desperate need to lose some weight?"

"The rumor." She froze, playful grin melting off her face.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Niou gave her a scathing look, but let her wriggle out from under his arm. Behind him Yagyuu was looking at her with interest.

"Oh please Annie. We're not stupid, and neither is Akaya. He's going to figure it out eventually."

"So he's told me. All I know is, if he does find out, it better not be from you."An walked away from him slightly, refusing to meet his gaze.

"I just don't-"

"Niou, how good to see you again." Niou growled quietly and An saw Yagyuu grab his hand and squeeze it harshly, causing him to wince in pain. "And Tachibana's sister. Ore-sama didn't expect to see you here." An blinked at Atobe as he addressed her, quickly taking in the amassed Hyotei team.

"Yukimura is over by the main courts." Atobe sniffed at this, clearly disappointed at her lack of reaction, before snapping his fingers and sauntering off towards the main courts.

"God I hate him." Niou growled out, a thunderous expression on his face.

"Calm down." Yagyuu chastised him quietly before dragging him off to warm up. "I've got him. Go watch the first match." An nodded and ran toward the main court, finding a seat on a bench next to Kirihara. They sat in awkward silence watching Mukahi do flips on the court while Oshitari rallied with Shishido. Swinging her legs childishly, An leaned over to whisper in his ear, "Somehow I don't think that's a very effective warm up."

Kirihara looked at her, shocked, before he broke out in a smile.

"I don't know what you're talking about. All great tennis players practice gymnastics before games."

"Hmmm." An watched the pairs thoughtfully before her face lit up. "I bet Niou can't imitate him."

"Who? Mukahi?"

"Yeah. I mean, do you really think Niou can do that shit?"

"Maybe. The only person Niou has never been able to do is Yukimura."

"Really?"

"Either he can't do it, or he's afraid to."

"You really think Yukimura would kill him?"

"Yukimura wouldn't, but Sanada would." An laughed at this, bringing her hand to her mouth to hide it from Sanada, who was glancing at them suspiciously. Kirihara nudged her, bringing her back to attention. "Look, they're starting."

An turned back to the court as the pairs were settling into position, Marui blowing a large green bubble. "Does he really need the sugar anymore?" An asked, watching as Oshitari sent the ball speeding over net.

"Not really. I think it's just a habit at this point." Marui returned one of Mukahi's shots, a clear bell sound ringing out as it hit the pole.

"15-0"

"Nice, Marui-senpai!" An gave Kirihara a shocked look, blinking as he whistle loudly.

"You guys cheer for each other." He gave her a weird look.

"Of course. Against good teams."

"It's just you didn't back in middle school." His face darkened.

"There wasn't anything to cheer about back then."

"30-0"

"Hey, way to go fat-ass."

"Stuff it, Niou."An scowled as Niou ruffled her hair as he passed.

"I thought we weren't supposed to fight."

"That's not fighting. It's how they show their love." Niou growled at Kirihara, who stuck his tongue out in retaliation.

"45-0"

"Nice shot Jackal."

"You're too polite."

"It's taken you this long to figure that out?" Niou winked at An before striding away, dragging Yagyuu behind him.

"Game, Marui-Jackal. 1-0."

"Well this is going to be quick." An yawned, her eyelids drooping.

"Tired?"

"I stayed up late last night." She responded, laying her head on his shoulder.

"Then go to sleep."

"Right here? I'm supposed to be collecting data."

"Chill, it's just a practice match. Yanagi-senpai is here anyway." Mumbling her agreement An allowed her eyes to close and her breathing evened out.

~~Moving On~~

When she woke up her head was laying on the bench, one of the nails pressing into her cheek. Sitting up, she realized she had slept through most of the matches, as Niou-and-Yagyuu were sitting next to her watching Kirihara win against Hiyoshi, 5-3. Niou tossed a notebook at her, causing An to duck with a scowl.

"Niou!"

"I'm helping you hone your ninja skillz."

"Ninja skills?"

"Yeah, ninja skillz. With a z."

"Whatever you say." He frowned exaggeratedly at her.

"Hey, I collected the data for you and this is what I get?" She blinked at him before opening the notebook.

"Since when can you forge my handwriting?"

"I can't. Yagyuu can. And since, like, the second day of school, I think."

"I don't even know how to respond to that."

"Shock is usually the chosen option."

"Game Kirihara. 6-3." An jumped up and began cheering loudly.

"That's some pretty enthusiastic cheering for your boyfriend."

"He's not my boyfriend!"

"Yet."An flushed red and opened her mouth to yell at Niou, but was cut off as Kirihara grabbed her from behind, ruffling her hair in the process.

"Stop! You're all sweaty!"

"Well, isn't this precious?" Kirihara scowled at Atobe, tightening his grip around her waist ever so slightly.

"Fuck off Atobe."

"Ore-sama is not impressed with your mouth Niou-kun. You would think someone of your status would have better manners." An blanched at those words, her eyes going to Niou who sat immobile on the bench.

"Atobe-kun. We should get our match started, no?" Yukimura was smiling gently, but An could see the anger burning in his eyes. Atobe shrugged and followed Yukimura onto the court, his tea following behind him quickly. She almost missed Yukimura twirling quickly on his heel to give her a look before taking his place on the baseline.

"Hey, Niou-senpai, Kirihara was saying earlier that you couldn't become Mukahi, but I bet him he was totally wrong. I didn't waste my money right?" This seemed to break Niou out of his trance, a mischievous smirk crawling onto his face.

"So Bakaya said that did he?"


End file.
